Call for Volunteers
for Qualitative testing of Duel Britannia game

Duel Britannia was designed to be reminiscent of Brit, but for two
players and playable in 60-90 minutes.

I have played it solo 18 times, and when I timed it I got 75 and 65
minutes.

It includes most of the familiar sides from Brit, divided so that one
player has the defenders of the island, plus the Ostmen (Dubliners) and
Danes, while the other side is the Anglo-Saxons, Scots, Irish, and Norse
(most of the invaders, in other words).

It starts with raiding and then the withdrawal of the Romans, and ends
with the Danish attempt to achieve the Kingship. Two players, two
contenders.

There are about 25 usable land areas, 7 rounds. Combat is the double-dice
method (it takes two 6s to kill someone in difficult terrain, not a 6 and
then a 5). The scoring is immensely simplified but still maintains a
connection with history. Attacking is encouraged, partly because each
nation scores at the end of its own turn.

(There is a three player version, but it's low priority so I don't know if
it will be included in the published version.)

This will be published along with a functionally unchanged Brit 2 (FFG
version) in a single box. (Unchanged: simpler paperwork, and plastic
figures: cosmetically changed but not functionally.)

We have signed the contract for this game. If playtesting can proceed
quickly enough, the aim is to release for Essen 2019. This is less than a
year, a fast schedule that could slip to summer 2020.

I have decided to use a qualitative rather than quantitative method of
playtesting Duel. So instead of a lot of people playing the game once or a
few times, fewer people will play several times.

Clarity of rules, and play balance, are what I'm looking for. A few people
have already helped make the rules more clear. And while I thought one
side had a slight disadvantage, and the two plays by two players were won
by that side, in Jim Jordan's solo games the other side is massacring the
one I thought had the advantage!

Which is why I need people to playtest the game!

I've attached/posted in files a photo of the board here; I use the flat
Brit pieces when I PT, but it will use figures when published.

When you volunteer I'll provide a zip of all the files by email.

It would help me if you can send me photos of your scoresheets.

Let me know if you are willing to participate.

Lew (you can get in touch with me via BGG, or write to webmaster here at
PulsipherGames.com)

to PulsipherGames.com/Pulsipher.net, a web site for supplementary
material and playtesting of games designed by Lewis Pulsipher
(Britannia, Dragon Rage, Valley of the Four Winds, Diplomacy
variants, Sea Kings, Doomstar, RPG material, etc.), and for teaching
about games. I issue a video-screencast (usually about game design)
weekly (Thursdays) on my YouTube
"Game Design" channel.

I started playing games about 60 years ago. I started designing
games more than 50 years ago. My first published (non-commercial)
games appeared in the early 1970s, and my first commercial game
over 35 years ago, in 1978 (Diplomacy Games & Variants),
followed in 1980 by Swords and Wizardry. Most
well-known: Britannia. Latest: "Lew Pulsipher's Doomstar"
(Steam). Forthcoming: Hastings 1066 and Crashing Suns (Worthington
Publishing), Pirate Captain and Germania (PSC Games, UK).

"5. Sea Kings by Lewis Pulsipher — This one is a light board game
that’s easy to teach, easy to set up, and quick to play. I had no
problem getting my son (age 13) and his friends to play it. I even
got a six player game together with some kids that were even
younger. Unlike a lot of euros, there is an element of direct
conflict in the advanced rules. The inclusion of rules that allow
players to settle without using a card in order to take over over
players settlements makes the gameplay much more dynamic. There’s
also just enough history baked into the game to inspire young people
to do some further reading about the world the Viking raiders lived
in."

I think the game's niche is two-fold: for younger players (as Jeffro
discusses), and for people who are not used to hobby games, or who
only play the party games that have become part of hobby games (such
as Cards Against Humanity
and its many derivatives). It's not a typical Lew-game at all.

I have created a Patreon
page to support my YouTube channel and blogging. For those
who don't know, Patreon is much like Kickstarter insofar as it enables
individuals to support worthwhile projects. But unlike Kickstarter,
this is continuing, monthly, support (at a level as low as $1 a
month). Producing a video a week has interfered with my other
activities (including text blogs), and may be one reason why it's
taking me so long to get Britannia's
new edition together. If I can sufficient support via Patreon
I can continue to justify the time I'm spending to produce free
material.

I appreciate the support I receive - and there are a few perks
involved, as well. Become
a Patron!

News

Sale on my Udemy courses

I have been offering courses on Udemy for
more than four years. When I signed up to teach, I opted out of the
"kamikaze" marketing that just cheapens everything about online education.
I won't ever be offering a "$200 course" for $10, or any course for 75%
off, as Udemy has. (Most instructors participate in that marketing, by the
way.) Nor do I participate in affiliate marketing.

I come from actual full-time college teaching (now retired). Big discounts
insult the intelligence: if it's only worth $10, why are you listing it at
$150? Furthermore, I don't like the idea of someone paying nearly full
price for one of my courses, only to see others sign up for $10. I know
that would annoy the heck out of me, if I were the student.

But I realize that Christmas is the time for a big sale - my *only* sale
of the year.

Here's how it works. I have two deeper discounts than I normally
offer. There are just three coupons at Level 1 (which is about 63% of the
list price), and five coupons at Level 2 (68-77%). When they're gone,
they're gone, no more offered until next November. Any unused will turn
off before the year ends. I offer them here first, and in a few days I'll
post them on my website and Google+.

So if you wait, the coupons might be used up.

I have two courses that are listed for $19.99, because that's the minimum
price Udemy allows, but I distribute free coupons for both. If you
are one of the very few people - a handful out of 10,000+ - who pay for
the course, within 30 days you can get a refund, and use the free coupons
(below).

If you recently paid full price:
Similarly, some people who paid full price for one of my courses, have
refunded and used one of my coupons for a lower price. You don't
lose any progress you've made, I'm told. I am not saying you should do
this, I'm only telling you what some have done, and that this is OK with
me! I hear you may also be able to use a coupon to get a partial
refund (amounts to same thing), I'm not sure how that works. Has anyone
tried it?

Hastings 1066 was successfully kickstarted (still available on preorder),
originally for May. I received the proofs 28 April. But it looks now like
December is a more likely release date.

Hastings 1066 (Break the Line
system, using cards arranged so as to create a board for maneuver) It has
engendered Isandlwana and Gettysburg (both by the Worthington
guys) and Stalingrad and Waterloo
(and an ancient naval battle game) by me . These are all two player
games, though Mandate has a 3
player version (the most you can get with blocks) and all the Diceless Wars
games have partners play built in. I love the Diceless Wars system, which I
think is as good in its way as the Britannia
system has been.

Two new Lewgames: Worthington Publishing has started a preoder
system (similar to GMT's P500). This is an alternative to Kickstarter,
though it's possible that a preorder game could end up on Kickstarter. (But
right now, they're working on a new website, and preorder isn't a part of
it!)

Pre-order prices are much lower than the list price. That's your advantage
for ordering early. Your credit card is not charged until some weeks before
delivery.

I have a game available on the new system that is at least close to unique.
I didn't set out to make it unique, it just turned out that way. Space
wargame Crashing Suns (Diceless
Wars block system) has engendered Mandate
of Heaven (Chinese rebels after the fall of a dynasty) and a WW II
Eastern Front game, plus a WW II Western Mediterranean air-sea game.

Doomstar is vaguely Stratego-like,
but immensely more fluid and quick to play, and much less
hierarchical. A key is that two fighters can move together over
great distances, and combine attacks together.

The list price for my book
"Game Design" is now
$19.99 (original list price $38). This is much less than the
price for any game design book I know of (not counting
"anthologies" with many authors).

Doomstar: I had an unusual experience
for a game designer at the UK game Expo. I watched an unpublished prototype
that I had designed being played long after I had "finished" it. This in
itself is not an unusual experience, because I sometimes leave a prototype
for years and then come back to it. But in this case, I didn't watch just
one game been playtested, I watched more than half a dozen. The game is a
tactical space wargame that I call Doomstar, which is being converted to
video. The idea is that the video version may help convince someone to
publish the physical version.

The game is vaguely reminiscent of L'Attaque/Stratego, but
immensely more fluid and less hierarchical, quite a different (and I
think, better and much shorter) experience.

As always, check my twitter
feed (above, or @lewpuls) for latest.

Dave Shapiro on Quora answers
the question "What's the best book on board game design?". He
suggests four in order of usefulness. My "Game Design" is first.

My book publisher pointed me to a (favorable) review of my book in
Game Nite, a free tabletop
game magazine. 8 issues available. http://gamenitemagazine.blogspot.com/
Looks good and the price can't be beat, each issue about 80MB. The
review is in #8.

Recent Screencasts

I rarely get around to posting individual links to my "Game Design"
YouTube channel here, so I decided to list the most recent
screencasts instead.

Nuts & Bolts: The Co-op "Fail
Mechanic"https://youtu.be/_dsnJ2N8ZNI
I explain why I call co-ops with one winner a "fail-mechanic." With
some players it just won't work.

Play to win? Nope. https://youtu.be/Dwsq9R_qLtI
Pundits have sometimes been slow on the uptake, but it will come as
no surprise to game players that playing to win is not the objective
of many players. Keep that in mind when you design your games.

Departing from the standard (card
game) sequence of playhttps://youtu.be/sfb1aWU6Ens
6/8/2017
The standard sequence of play makes a specialty card game easier to
learn. But don't "settle" for it, your game may be better with
something else.

Nuts & Bolts: How to get an
improvisers's game from a planner's gamehttps://youtu.be/juG7AfFcqas
6/1/2017
I describe how I changed Britannia, an historical Planner's game par
excellence, into an Improviser's space wargame, with just a few
changes. Very different experience, essentially same underlying
mechanics.

Ranking Sources of Information
About Game Design Two partshttps://youtu.be/MjmP1kD7Vyc
4/20/2017https://youtu.be/JnrGy8DBOOU
The best way to learn is to make games. The second best way is to
talk with (and listen to) other game designers, whether informally
or in a class. After that there are many sources of learning, and
I've ranked those in a two-part screencast.

Eight awful truths about game
marketinghttps://youtu.be/DbNlo4Jgk4A
I ran across "10 Awful Truths about Book Marketing" online, and
seeing the parallels with games, I'm discussing those Truths
(including the two that don't apply). Another time I'll discuss some
strategies you can follow to do your best in this environment.
There's no "Secret Knowledge" or "secret Sauce" (nor conspiracies)
in Game Design https://youtu.be/bzvMFoH0Ejk

What do I wish I'd been told when I
started designing games?
Aspiring designers sometimes believe that there's a secret formula
to game design, and all they have to do is follow it. Nothing could
be further from the truth. The delusion seems to be common in
society these days, that there's a secret knowledge to any
discipline. It's the kind of thing that helps fuel conspiracy
theories. https://youtu.be/EQniwhThhsA
I was asked this question in an interview. It doesn't much apply to
me, I started more than 50 years ago, but I describe the advice I'd
give people starting out today.

Nuts & Bolts: The Drafting
Mechanichttps://youtu.be/vJ1HeqDyjXI
Drafting (almost always, card drafting) is a common technique in
games involving more than one side. The mechanic gives players a
greater feeling of control, but takes time.

Foolish saying: "You get what you
pay for"https://youtu.be/RfLvBdJXxtA
"Conventional wisdom" sometimes isn't at all wise. Especially in
games, but really in all facets of life, the saying "you get what
you pay for" is foolish.

Elementary Statistics (Averages!)
in Game Designhttps://youtu.be/GYIunqmPlfs
Game designers (tabletop or video) should understand elementary
math, statistics, probability. So many people don't understand that
"average" can have different meanings, that I've described the
differences here.

Is game design about
software? Heck no!https://youtu.be/H8H4GKqRQ0g
Many schools, colleges, universities, whether deliberately or
accidentally, equate “game design” with “game development”. The
first is about how the game is supposed to work; the second is about
creating game software. Why deliberately confuse the two?

Nuts & Bolts: How a game can
derive from a bit of another?https://youtu.be/z64CmrVCYN4
It's not unusual for a game to use a system that's been successful
in another game. But sometimes one game grows out of a small bit of
another.

Constraints in games from a player
viewpoint (two parts)https://youtu.be/p_zEo1Dt0JQ
Though contemporary gamers (especially video gamers) tend to dislike
constraints, practically speaking games ARE merely sets of
constraints. Properly specified constraints can make the game
especially interesting. for the player(s).

RPGs: Stifling Creativity?https://youtu.be/anLNLWX090s
It seems too many DMs are guilty of letting players push them
around, resulting in a waste of time while a player tries to
convince the MD that such-and-such wildly unlikely occurrence should
be assigned a decent chance of happening. When you enforce the game
rules (and physics) you simply the game and keep it moving along,
you aren't stifling creativity.

Practical vs Realityhttps://youtu.be/kjbHNC3nkhk
Game design is a series of compromises, and major compromises can
occur when reality and what's practical in a game clash. Some
"practical decisions" result in behavior that has next to nothing to
do with reality.

Special Powers Card Games
(SPCG)
Special Powers Card Games (Magic:the Gathering, Munchkin, many
others) is a category that attracts many aspiring designers. But
designers should avoid CCGs, and look at other kinds of SPCG.https://youtu.be/9Q4ffTs_lfk

Charlemagne and "Yomi"
This is about two different and conrasting game playing styles. I
use Charlemagne to represent "minimax" and "yomi" is a Japanese word
adopted by David Sirlin to represent those who try to read the
intentions and anticipate their opponents.https://youtu.be/0dSh93LkeUk

The Demise of "Favorite"
Games
When I taught video game design classes I asked students about their
favorite games. Turned out, many of them had no favorites, or could
only pick the game they were currently playing. How different from
many years ago. Here's why, which has a lot to do with changes
in the nature of games and how people play them.https://youtu.be/C4CgD9UTH1k

Why is it so hard to persuade
people to playtest prototypes?
I've just added this video to my online course "Playtesting: the
Heart of Game Design" (about 6.5 hours). Discount URL: https://www.udemy.com/game-playtesting/?couponCode=PT25
This is by far the most comprehensive discussion of game playtesting
in the world, to my knowledge. Converted to words, it's the
size of a small novel, in 64 parts, including examples of
playtesting notes I've taken over the years.https://youtu.be/Ijq8xpV8fjs

Flexibility in Games
A seldom-discussed aspect of games - especially tabletop games - is
their flexibility. Can the game be played to varying lengths, by
varying numbers of players? Can players join in after the game has
begun?https://youtu.be/SiG_Xhe6rQs

WBC Britannia Tournament 2016

Despite an overall 22% decrease in WBC attendance at the new venue,
the Brit tournament had more participants than last year. GM Jim
Jordan has written an account (PDF
here).

Prototype Con 2016

I spent 8 hours at the first Prototype Con in Kissimmee, FL
Saturday. Perhaps 125 people, all in one convention room in a
Ramada that was, unfortunately, on the main drag to Disney World, so
traffic (three lanes each way) was very heavy, even on Feb. 20th.

I met Mark Gelstone and Nick Seddon, who appeared to be just about
the only other people interested in wargames at the con, which was
dominated by "parallel competition" games (interactive puzzles where
you can do little or nothing to affect other players). We talked
about Mark's enormous WW II game at length, then they played a new
two player version of Introductory Epic Brit (3rd edition
prototype), which worked out quite well! The intro version is much
more freeform than historical Brit, and that permits one arrangement
of four colors for two players that looks fairly workable.

Mark's game is a labor of love; not the prettiest physical
prototype I've ever seen, but probably one that has more hours in it
than any I've seen. But it's far too large to be practical for
publishing, I'd guess it would cost $200 at typical wargame print
runs. But it models WW II in several quite interesting ways.

Out of the blue, Jason Levine of the Dice Tower asked to interview
me (video) for a bit. I asked "about what" to try to prepare (as we
were walking to the location - they had to leave soon) but the
answer was something like "anything and everything" in games.
Release URL above.

Skillshare Courses

I'm adding about 20 short classes (20 minutes to an hour) to
Skillshare.com in the coming months. Skillshare is a
subscription-based service, you pay the monthly fee (which they hide
- I can't find it, it's either $10 or $20 a month, though I've seen
99 cents for first three months) and you can participate in any of
their nearly 3,000 classes. Their approach is much more
self-improvement and arts than the tawdry "get rich quick -
nothing's as important as money" malaise that characterizes Udemy.

In the long run, I think this will predominate over the Udemy.com
model of individually priced classes. Lynda.com, recently
purchased by LinkedIn, is the larger and older proponent of
subscription format, but as far as I know has no game design
classes. (Keep in mind I mean game design, not game development.)

Recent class opened (free, you don't need to have a Skillshare
subscription): "Nurturing a College or University Game Club" http://skl.sh/29bjFf0

Sea
Kings scoresheet: I've provided a copy of the scoresheet
I used in my prototype of Sea Kings. It is much more
functional than the scoring track on the published board.
Explanations and PDF/JPG
here.

This is by far the most
comprehensive discussion of game playtesting in the world, to my
knowledge. Converted to words, it's the size of a small
novel, in 64 parts, including examples of playtesting notes I've
taken over the years. I'm sure I'll be adding to it as time
passes, as well.

Reviews

If you have found one of my classes worthwhile enough to go
through most or all, I'd appreciate you giving the class a Udemy
rating/review. While the ratings on Udemy are not trustworthy
- there are several schemes for getting "5s", including some where
the instructor pays someone! - some people pay attention to them.

Other News:

I'm available as a guest for podcasts interested in someone who
knows a lot about game design and the industry, and has very long
experience as well. Me. I speak reasonably well on the fly -
listen to my Boardgame University with Tom Vasel (#27) at
http://boardgameuniversity.libsyn.com/.

I've been testing an alpha build of a computer
version of one of my unpublished board games (being
programmed in the UK). It is a space wargame, vaguely reminiscent of
Stratego but far more
fluid, yet much quicker. No estimate when it will become available.

The NC State student newspaper asked to do an
article about me in connection with the NCSU Tabletop Gamers
Club. The photographer took dozens of photos, kind of
surprised by the one they selected.

Pacific
Convoy. Worthington have stated in their newsletter that they
will publish my vaguely Stratego-like game Pacific
Convoy. It's on a hex board, lots of space, and all pieces can move at
least two hexes (straight line only). It's much less hierarchical than
Stratego, as well, and two air pieces can move in the same turn.
Different victory criteria, as well - you need to get a transport to the
other side of the board, no flag or command vessel to hunt down.

Tom Vasel interviewed me for episode #27 of Boardgame University.
Download the MP3 at
http://boardgameuniversity.libsyn.com/ I had no idea what he
was going to ask me, so my answers are entirely
off-the-cuff.

So I must have done something right. And Tom must have
asked good questions.

Two "new" Britannia-like games (free in
PnP format)

Conquest Europa

Wallace Nicoll has prepared a PDF edition of Roger Heyworth's
game Conquest Europa. Roger was the uncredited editor of Britannia
for its original publication by H. P. Gibsons in Britain in 1986.
He passed away in 2000, unfortunately. Wallace was involved in the
testing.
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/99400/conquest-europa-2014

The game covers all of Europe and North Africa, from the fall of
the Roman Empire to Tamerlane and beyond. With some 500 pieces, 35
nations, and 106 areas, it lasts 10-12 hours with experienced
players.

When I began to think about doing a new edition of Britannia,
around 2004, a 1980 all-of-Europe game I had done while developing
Britannia. Though not as big as Conquest Europa, it took 12 hours
to play the first time, so I set it aside and then completely
forgot about it.

One of the first new games I started when I came back into the
hobby was an all-Europe game, which was playtested at WBC in 2008.
It turned out to be a natural five player rather than four player
game. Someday it may see print, perhaps in Against-the-Odds
magazine or annual. In the meantime I've devised another
all-Europe game that lasts about two hours, and has been played in
1:40.

These games both end with the Mongol invasion, after starting
with the fall of the West Roman Empire.

Kickstarter

I expect that the new edition of Britannia (perhaps
multiple versions) will show up on Kickstarter sooner or later, as
the majority of publishers now use it.

Online
Classes

I have spent a great deal of time testing the full Historical
Version of the new edition, which is a "more accurate"
representation of history than past editions. The
Introductory version of that game is much quicker, a "freeform"
version. But the versions that will likely attract the most
people are standalone, separate games, a short (as little as 1:24
in non-solo testing) version and a diceless (2-3 hour)
version. Discussion of testing is at the Eurobrit
Yahoo Group.

This community supports audiovisual learning and teaching about
game design at online locations (such as Udemy.com,
Skillshare.com, and MOOC providers). It is about game design, not
game development (not programming, art, sound). (Most online "game
design" courses are actually about game development.)

"Game Design – a combination of problem-solving and creativity
used to create the framework, structure, and mechanics of
games. In video games, game design also involves a great
deal of communication with the people who actually make the
software. Making and marketing the game is not part of game
design, though very important to the success of a commercial
game. Game design has little to do with visual arts and
nothing to do with computer programming." (Excerpt from the book
"Game Design" by Lewis Pulsipher, McFarland 2012)

From ARBA vol 44 p. 16 (final sentence): "Although a single book
cannot substitute for education in game creation or practice, this
book provides useful tips and resources for game designers and
those interested in entering the field." This is another
professional, subscription only journal so I cannot provide a URL
(I got a non-convertible PDF from my publisher).

Pages 25 ff in Diplomacy World #121 (April '13)
contains Jim Burgess' rather stream-of-consciousness review of
the book, as related to the game Diplomacy. Diplomacy
World has been the flagship magazine of Diplomacy
fandom for over 30 years, and recently under editor Doug Kent is
a massive quarterly free download at
http://www.diplomacyworld.net/. I was active in the
hobby in the 70s, and have designed more published Diplomacy
variants than anyone, I think.

From March 2013 Choice Online Reviews: by
A. Chen, Cogswell College: "Summing up: Recommended.
Lower-division undergraduates and two-year technical program
students in game design programs and
professionals/practitioners." (An image of this was sent
to me by McFarland. I don't have a URL - I think Choice, a
journal for academics, is subscription-only.)

New (7 Feb 13)
review by Michael Fox at Little Metal Dog Show (a well-known
UK game blog). "Rather than having someone standing in front
of you, telling you what to do to move on, Lewis’ writing feels
more like he’s sitting by you, making helpful suggestions on how
to get out of sticky design issues and encouraging you to think
your way through the stages of your game."

Book review - Game Design by Joe Huber (3 Dec 12). "So
summing it all up, Game Design does an excellent job of providing
a path to become an effective game designer."

Review:
Lewis Pulsipher’s ‘How to Design Epic Games' by David
Bolton. (Yes, he knows the actual title.) "If you want
to design games, as opposed to just produce them, this is a great
book. It hits the ground running, though you’ll need to read it
quite a few times for everything to sink in. . ."

From a reader
review on Amazon.co.uk: "There is scarcely a
spare word in this book, and that's a good thing. You know the
author is not wasting your time because he is not wasting his. .
. . He gets to the point: "You want to make games, Johnny? The
only way to do it is to do it". I know it seems obvious, but
sometimes you just need to be told, and it's refreshing not to
feel that the author is winking at you like they have a secret
which they've promised to share and never do. I did not feel
that this author held anything back, and now I have something
really extraordinary on my shelf: a textbook that's not only
become my go-to reference, but also an inspiration - believe it
or not, it's exciting!"

The book is now being offered by some small sellers for less than
the majors are selling it for (paper version).

It's available in the UK from Amazon UK and Waterstones.com.

Unsolicited Testimonials:

"Dear Mr. Pulsipher,

Just finished your book on
tabletop and video games and it was awesome! I appreciate all
the great advice and the realistic expectation level it sets
for designers. The supporting website is so helpful. Thank you
so much for taking the time to do this book and sharing your
knowledge and experience.

Lori Nelson"

"I found your book to be very useful Lewis
because it doesn't have a one size fits all approach.
There are a range of issues to consider and solutions
offered for a variety of challenges in game design. I
was able to check issues I'd come up against in my game
design and find either that I had approached things in
one of your recommended ways (due to intuition or
collective consideration by our game dev group), or you
gave me new ideas to try or things to check.

Over all this a great generalist game design book for
tabletop games."
Kim Brebach (This is a post on a boardgame
site. The book is a video game design book first,
tabletop second.)

Use in class

Scott Nicholson wrote recently to let me know that
"I've decided to adopt your game design book as my
primary text in my 'Transformative Game Design' class
I'm teaching in the spring at Syracuse University. I
reviewed a wide variety of game design texts, and
found yours to be the best for what I need!

Great job!"

Thanks, Scott. The book is "Game Design: How to
Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish". Dr.
Scott Nicholson is an Associate Professor at the
School of Information Studies at Syracuse University
and the director of the Because Play Matters game lab.
He's well known for "Board
games with Scott". Transformative games are
games intended to change the player in some
significant way.

Outside the USA

People outside the USA might consider using
Book Depository to order, as they have free shipping
to about 50 countries. I have not used it myself but
see references to it.

New edition of Britannia

After sales of 16,000 the FFG version of Britannia has sold out
(though it's still available in some stores, FFG has no more).
I've received a notification from FFG that the contract is
terminated. So I have been looking for another publisher for a
revised edition, and have two strong candidates.

The plan for the new editions of Britannia - don't
forget that plans don't always work out - is that there are
several versions. The standard version that has been available
in the past will be changed more than I anticipated when I
started out two months ago, primarily to make it work better as
a way of teaching/understanding British history - to make it
closer to reality, if you will. In the process the game has
changed some, which I also think will be interesting for
players. In particular I've eliminated some things that I
strongly dislike. First, it won't be possible for the Romans to
make a deal with the Welsh, who then submit although never
touched. This time, they Will Fight. Second, it won't be
possible for a "starving army" to commit virtual suicide by
making a bad-odds attack. Its compatriots will have to come
along. Third, we won't have the Romano-British scurrying for the
hills, abandoning their homes and farms. But they'll be in
better shape than in the old game.

It also won't be a Roman walkover with Romans even known to be
killing Caledonians. The Roman will have more difficult choices.
Unfortunately, players who tend to make a hash of the Romans
now, when it IS often a cakewalk for an experienced player, may
REALLY make a hash of it in the new version. There's always a
problem in games, whether to design for the 99% expert player or
the 33% or the 75%. When the 99% expert is going to work a bit,
the 33% may just get creamed. Fortunately, the Roman-British are
MUCH more prominent in the game - for a while.

There's a smaller, diceless version ("Rule Britannia") that
uses a new board (21 land areas including Ireland); and a quick,
really small (nine nations) "Gateway" version (no set title,
tentatively "Britannia Brevis") that also uses a new board (18
land). The Gateway version appeals to people who like Risk
and Axis & Allies (but remember, 60-90 minutes) and
to video gamers. Rule Britannia should appeal to people
who don’t like dice (battle cards, each player has an identical
set). Less than three hours.

There's also an "Ultimate" version that uses the standard board
with the addition of Ireland, and will be significantly longer
than the standard game (Epic, get it?). But it will be an
expansion, not part of the standard package. Ireland will
be on the standard board, even though it won't be used in the
standard game.

The standard game (likely called "Epic Britannia") will come
with several shorter scenarios (4-9 turns), and a new three
player game that I am trying very hard to balance, and a 6-7
turn game that covers the entire period using the same
colors/sides, and will take half as long to play.

Game Design Book

My book "Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games,
Start to Finish" is available. Publisher's web
page for the book.
Amazon. As you might expect, I make a lot more from a
copy ordered through McFarland than through Amazon, but most
people use Amazon's free shipping.

It can be ordered from McFarland or from retail book
sellers. Because McFarland's first market is libraries, you
have an alternative not practically available for most books: you
can request that your library order a copy. Many public
libraries will respond to suggestions/requests, though many of
those want more than one person to make the request.

Why would you read a book? While the book is no longer the
absolute treasure trove of information that was when I was a kid
(see below), it still organizes information in an easily
digestible form. But more important, a book can convey the
experience of the author to the reader, and if that experience is
valuable than this is something the reader won't get anywhere
else. A major purpose for me in writing the book is to help
beginning game designers avoid the "school of hard knocks" that I
had to go through, applying my experience in teaching novice game
designers as well.

When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, if you were lucky you had
three television networks to watch instead of two, there was no
Internet and consequently no e-mail, no cell phones, no personal
computers (or printers), no World Wide Web, no Facebook, no
Twitter, no YouTube. A long distance call of any length cost real
money. I first saw color TV in a person's house when I was 10
(trick-or-treat: the people let the kids come in and see their
cool color TV). Music was on vinyl LPs and (later) cassette tapes.
If you wanted to watch a movie you stayed up after 11 (old movies
only on TV) or you went to a theater, there was no way to record a
movie other than film. There was no instant replay on sporting
events because videotape had not been perfected.

In that era, as for generations before, a book was a treasure
trove of information, something to be read carefully and absorbed
as much as possible.

Nowadays people are much less impressed by books because there's
so many other sources of information, but if you really want to
learn about something in depth a good book is the best way to do
it other than having an experienced person teach you directly.

***

I was the guest on the Ludology
podcast #26 about epic games (tabletop games, not the
video game company). This is the only podcast I listen
to, because it's about "the why of games", not about new games
and community chit-chat. I've also converted this to a
video that is on my Game
Design YouTube channel.

***

My blog is posted, now, in as many as five places, reaching a
quite different readership at each place. The blog has existed
since 2004 but I "spread out" only in 2011.

Another
review, from "Fortress Ameritrash"! I have to
quote this one: "It’s an absolute grab-bag of fun fantasy
memes and is certainly the most customisable wargame
without miniatures that I’ve ever seen."

My piece on "The Three Player Problem" is the first
chapter in the book.

Slides and audio recordings of my game design talks at
UK Game Expo and Origins are here.

The reissue of Dragon Rage is in print. The game
(published in Belgium) is available in American stores,
or direct from GameSalute. You can order from www.flatlinedgames.com.

The physical components are very impressive (compared
with the original microgame), on a par with
Britannia. The hit recording sheets are full-size
plasticized cardboard, as opposed to the original
notepad. The board is fully mounted, and has an
orc lair on the opposite side, with new
scenarios. You can see from the photo
that the pieces are individually cut and have round
corners, not like the typical wargame with
square-cornered little pieces.

This version includes a second map (of an orc lair
area, more or less) and additional scenarios for it,
devised by Eric Hanuise.

Welcome to
PulsipherGames.com/Pulsipher.net, a web site for
supplementary material and playtesting of games
designed by Lewis Pulsipher (Britannia, Dragon Rage,
Valley of the Four Winds, Diplomacy variants, RPG
material, etc.), and for teaching about games.

I started playing games more than 50 years ago. I
started designing games more than 45 years ago. My
first published (non-commercial) games appeared in
the early 1970s, and my first commercial game over
30 years ago, in 1978 (Diplomacy Games &
Variants), followed in 1980 by Swords and
Wizardry.

After publication of several commercial games, and
after I earned my Ph.D., I took 20 years off from
designing games, though I played and made up
adventures (which is level design) and refereed lots
of Dungeons and Dragons while learning
computing, programming, networking, and making a
living. In 2004 I decided to get back into
game design rather than write computer textbooks,
though my primary profession is college
teaching. I taught my first course in game
design in fall 2004, though I did not teach games
full time until fall 2007.

Notice:

Lewis Pulsipher and Pulsiphergames.com do not accept or
consider unsolicited submissions, ideas or materials,
such as games, game ideas, treatments, books, story
ideas, or characters. Any unsolicited materials
submitted will be disposed of without review.

Disclaimer: occasionally people
send me unsolicited ideas or concepts for games.
Be aware that when you do this you acknowledge that I
may use your ideas in any way I wish without legal
obligation. (I'm unlikely to do this, but I may
have the same idea already, and I have no desire to be
sued by someone who doesn't realize that ideas
are not protected by copyright law in any case.)

Recently played video games:
Gratuitous Space Battles, Angry Birds, and several
"social network" games. I played the latter
(all Zynga games) because I was talking with them
about the possibility of working as a game designer
in Bangalore India. But the current emphasis
in these games is on frustration (to persuade people
to spend real money), and that's the opposite of
what I want to create. Further, I suspect
Zynga is stuck in the rut they've made, a company so
large that they may not be able to risk trying games
drastically different from the ones they now
support. I know what kind of social network
game I would make, first and foremost to make it
truly social, not solitary.

More recently I've reconciled myself
to using Steam and have bought Civilization V and
Skyrim to go along with Portal, but who knows when
I'll have time to play them!

I have never designed a published
"computer game", largely because I have not known
anyone able and willing to do the necessary
programming and artwork. I have never
been interested in starving in order to produce a
video game. Nowadays, of course, computer
games are the products of teams, not of individuals.
Back when one individual could write a game, I was a
database programmer, which doesn't help much with
computer games, nor do I have a hint of an artist in
me.

Why would I want to design electronic
games? I'm better off as is:

1. The "AAA list" electronic games are
really designed by committee. When I design a
game, it is almost all MINE. (The rest is
playtesters and publisher.)

2. Video games, until fairly recently,
were almost always interactive puzzles, not
games. Games are about people, interactive
puzzles are about computers. I like games, not
puzzles.

3.
For most of the age of video games, you had to work full time in the
industry, yet the pay was poor (per hour worked, that is). I preferred
to help young people as a teacher, get paid at least as well, and have lots
of time to design games.

4.
The working hours can be bad. "Crunch time" (unpaid overtime) is
common, though designers are not involved in that quite as much as
programmers and artists.

5.
Fighting with the electronics obscures the purity of design. You
worry about what the computer can do instead of what the players can
do. At worst, you "hide behind the computer".

People become computer game
designers after working on computer games for a
company in other capacities, especially level
designer. Practically no one is hired directly as
a computer game designer, though level designers
(a subset of game design) may be hired directly
from school. The production costs for "big"
off-the-shelf games ($10-100 million) make a
person without a track record too much of a risk.

Click here
for advice for those who want to
get into the game industry.

"Always do right--this will gratify
some and astonish the rest." Mark Twain

"A designer knows he has achieved
perfection not when there is nothing left to
add, but when there is nothing left to take
away." Antoine de Saint-Exup'ery

"A teacher is never a giver of
truth - he is a guide, a pointer to the
truth that each student must find for
himself. A good teacher is merely a
catalyst." (Martial Arts quote)

"We
have met the enemy, and he is us."
Pogo (Walt
Kelly)
"Enjoy the Journey"